This was submitted as my final essay in my International Cinema class and the intent was to trace a theme over the body of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's work. Certainly, the class did not cover all of his films, and this essay does not even cover all of the films I saw in class which included Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, Ikiru, High and Low, and Dersu Uzala. This is a fairly recent essay since I completed the course this past semester (Spring 2004).

Throughout the films of director Akira Kurosawa, nature and the elements play a vital role in establishing the theme and mood of a particular scene. Kurosawa makes frequent, deliberate use of both the elements and nature as a whole as an integral formal quality in his work. One of the more notable and easily recognizable examples is his use of torrential downpour, however, he utilizes other elements and aspects of nature as well.

Kurosawa's trademark use of heavy rain can be clearly seen in his film Rashomon. Ultimately, it is the rain which is the catalyst that sets the frame story in motion. The soaking rain is what drives the travelers to the Rashomon Gate for shelter. It provided a reason for dissimilar characters to congregate together and to pass the time by relating various versions of the same tale. It hedges them in and forces them to confront one another and ultimately to present one of the main thematic concepts of the film: the subjectivity of human experience. It is only at the very end of the film that the rain finally lifts which symbolically coincides with the reassertion that there is still good in the human world. This reassertion occurs when the woodcutter agrees to take care of the infant found at the gate.

Wind also plays a significant role in Rashomon. While it is the rain that sets the frame story in motion, it is the wind that initializes the main story. We discover the importance of this element when we view the story through the bandit Tajomaru's perspective. He tells the government questioners that if it had not been for the wind, he would not have committed the crime. The film then cuts to images from Tajomaru's memory : a woman draped in a white veil and her husband pass through the forest. The woman is entirely concealed by her garments, sitting almost motionless upon her horse. Then, a cool breeze stirs the leaves and parts the woman's veil, for a moment revealing the face of the aloof noblewoman. A glimpse of her doll-like face is enough to tantalize the bandit, causing him to desire her so much as to go after her by force. The murdered nobleman through a medium also references the wind. In the deceased husband's account of the tale, after Tajomaru rapes the woman, she commands the bandit to kill him. The husband compares her words to a "horrible wind."

Another film where torrential rain contributes to the definition of a scene is in Ikiru. After struggling with the bureaucracy in order to have his plan accomplished, Watanabe finally visits the site of the park construction. Kurosawa designs the scene of his first glimpse of the fruits of his labor to speak of that struggle. Water pours down in sheets as Watanabe trudges through the mud with determination (if I recall correctly, he may have even fallen down once, but proceeded to stand up again and continued looking around). He seems virtually oblivious to the rain and is quite content to venture through it without an umbrella, although one of the mothers who requested the park offered him the shelter of her umbrella. His behavior in the rain in turn reflects his own attitude towards the bureaucracy that tried to hinder his efforts. Placed within his position of only having a short time left in the mortal world, the barriers presented by government bureaucracy were not especially intimidating for him. So it was with the rain as well, even though everyone else in the scene was scurrying to escape it.

Later in the film, we find that the pouring rain of Watanabe's struggle has changed into delicate snow. It is the last scene where we see Watanabe alive and not simply as a stiff portrait. He has reached a state of simple contentment with his life, he feels the peace of knowing that he accomplished something as an individual rather than as a function of his office. He accepts his imminent death gracefully, and he has learned to appreciate many of the things he formerly took for granted. All of this information about WatanabeÕs character is encapsulated in this scene. Visually and metaphorically, he has become a child again, swinging happily in the snow while singing a song to himself. The falling snow is pure and white, emphasizing his new state of innocence and appreciation. The snow reflects light in a way that rain does not, allowing the world to seem more luminous and beautiful, which is a point-of-view much more conducive to the renewed Watanabe than to his former identity. Another scene also illustrates WatanabeÕs new appreciation via nature. In it, Watanabe points out to a co-worker how beautiful sunsets are and how little attention he had paid to them before learning of his illness. It is a little ironic that although he was witnessing a sunset, it was in effect a dawning for him.

Kurosawa makes ample use of the element of fog in Throne of Blood. The entire film is saturated with the themes of human impermanence and the transition of all things as emerging from or descending into nothingness, both of which are heavily Buddhist in nature. KurosawaÕs use of fog and mist were important formal aspects which serve to carry those themes through the work. For instance, in the beginning, we are confronted with an image of a memorial used to mark the area once home to the Spider's Web castle, it is then absorbed in mist, and we are transported in time to when the castle occupied the space. At the very end of the film, the castle is once again writhed in mist, and once again we return to the image of the memorial. The fog allows for this mysterious transition in a way that few other mediums could. The film would have had a very different feel to it if the camera had simply cut to the various images. That technique would not have given the impression that the events of the past were swept away by time, it would have been something along the lines of a traditional flashback. The mist also causes the various characters to be lost and enveloped. It caused familiar spaces to become unfamiliar and sent them into a state of confusion. Washizu and Miki find themselves being deceived by the mist and the forest around them, which is only sending them around in circles. This is what causes them to encounter the forest spirit who tells Washizu he will become a Great Lord. After the meeting with the forest spirit, Washizu and Miki again get lost on their way to Spider's Web castle because of the mist. They become exhausted from continuously riding through it and so they sit down and converse. It was the mist that gave them the opportunity to let the prophecy of the forest spirit really sink in.